Mangaluru: The world first took notice of this city on the Karnataka coast in January 2009, when goons of Sri Ram Sene, an organization led by Pramod Mutalik, attacked girls at a pub in the name of Indian culture.

That infamous incident marked a start of sorts for the moral police brigade, which has struck with worrying regularity since, with hundreds of such run-ins making national and international headlines.

Dakshina Kannada Komu Souharda Vedike president Bakrabail Suresh Bhat, a vocal opponent of this trend, has chronicled the rise of this “hideous Talibanism” by majority and minority community elements in undivided Dakshina Kannada district, considered a communally sensitive hub. There have been over 900 communal incidents since 2010, he says, of which around 275 are related to moral policing by Hindu, Muslim and other vigilantes.

Bhat says the data is based on media reports, and fears that there could be many more unreported cases. Moral policing is part of the report – ‘A Chronicle of Communal Incidents in the Coastal Districts of Karnataka Since 2010’. He attributes failures on the part of successive governments as the main reason for all communal incidents reported in the region.

Though the number of reported instances has come down, compared to previous years, moral policing has become a blot on a city that aspires to be an education hub, with several prestigious colleges drawing students from across the country and abroad. There are just a few places left where youngsters can move about freely, without being questioned or having to look over their shoulders.

This moral vigilantism has also led to ghettoization of communities and even sexes, as students are unable to interact freely with the opposite sex. Bhat says it is a visible trend, and an alarming one. “Successive governments have exonerated the perpetrators of such incidents, giving the goons a free hand and making them bolder. Communities are getting polarized. It’s all part of power politics, a very sad development for a region which could have marketed its human resources,” rues Bhat.

The number of incidents reported was 30 in 2011, 39 in 2014 and 35 in 2015. In 2016, only 18 incidents were reported, of which five were moral policing cases, allegedly by Muslim vigilantes. In 2017, the number was up by five at 23, of which 17 were by Hindu vigilantes.